MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise

Your "reasonable" isn't necessarily others'.

Why are you using your external monitor for a Zoom call, but of course it's up to you.

I have mentioned time and time again I can run full 1080P video all day on a Dell U2717D at 2560x1440 via mDP and my fans never even turn on. In fact I've never heard my fans except during a software update, and even then they're not what I would call "loud" - noticeable yes, loud no.

For example, after 30 minutes of playing 1080p video full screen on the external monitor via mDP while reading Apple Discussions on the laptop display, my fans were barely above 2400 RPM, and were completely inaudible to me:

Why would Apple "acknowledge" it? Once again, you're taking a parameter - fan noise - and acting like Apple promised the device would be silent; they did not.

Did the Mac shut down during that Zoom call? Did it overheat and tell you it needed to cool down? Or did it just ramp up its fans as needed because you decided to place the call on an external monitor for whatever reason?

I think the fact that if I open the Settings panel on an HP Spectre x360 with just the screen open it eventually ramps up the fans to be even more of an issue than anything I've ever seen the MBP 16 do.

I get it, you don't like it, and perhaps you will choose a Windows laptop next time, but you'll largely face the same issues as the prime heat generators are the graphics chip and the processor - something that will likely change in a big way when the larger Apple Silicon MacBook Pros hit the street.

@Sergei_Usatov - Based on your comment, I unplugged my eGPU and directly plugged in my LG Ultrafine 5K via thunderbolt and my LG 4K via HDMI (and also via USB-C) to see what would happen. It appears that Monterey 12.0.1 has significantly improved the experience!!!

First experiment: Just plugging in the LG 5K, I'm seeing temps around 65-70C, Radeon high side about 14-16v, and fan speeds at a very acceptable 35% 40% speed. Fan noise is very low. I've got multiple chrome windows open, running a Youtube video, and a handful of other low-impact applications.

Second Experiment: Adding my LG 4k monitor (for a total of two external monitors running at the same time) doesn't raise metrics by much. Note: I have scaling turned on for the 4K to match the display size of my 5k and I do have the HDR option turned off.

When I plug in the second monitor, temps spike momentarily, but then drop down to 70-75C, Radeon high side is about 18v, and fan speeds are about 50-60%. Again, that feels very acceptable for having the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M powering two external monitors. I get similar performance using a USB-C cable for this second monitor as I do using an HDMI connected via the Apple dongle.

One final note, I seem to get slightly better performance by running one monitor off the left bus / ports and the other on the right side bus / ports. I recall Apple specifically stating you have to use this configuration for multiple 5k monitors.

I'll keep running this setup for a while to see how it reacts. I still need to try out some video conferencing (Zoom) and other applications to see how the system handles it, but right now I'm very satisfied.

Here are the stats with both LG5k Ultrafine and standard 4K LG monitors connected running Chrome, YouTube, and a few other apps:

Hi Grant

They are a different beasts altogether and share none of the loud fan noise issues. I have not heard the fan start once in the 29 days I have had it and rarely warm to touch.

However until Apple make some fixes to the MacOs there are plenty of other issues to be mindful of.

This probably has a lot to do with Apple rushing the Monterey release to coincide with the new M1 Macs and also 3rd party apps not being properly optimised even if they say they are.

The other day when using safari / mail and messages I had the m1 Max to 100% at 9 am and by 12:00 pm it was down to 48 % and only basic safari activity no watching or streaming.

And yesterday I watched Control Centre gobble up a massive 32 Gb of ram and Lightroom over 60 gb just when browsing in grid view.

Apple for years have delivered Mac Book Pros that leave a user shortchanged - Now they have really stepped up but as they did dropped the ball on the OS

and safari tab groups randomly reset themselves to a cloud session version even if your half way through something and external displays have 2 issues - editing Andy settings of displays reset HDR for an HDMI connected display - usual sluggish laggy issues but definitely better than previous generations.

Dear TimUzzanti

Thanks for posting your problem in Apple Discussions. You came to the right place !. In this case your MacBook Pro may be defective. I recommend you to contact Apple Support ASAP. Apple also has 14 days return policy and you can get the MacBook replaced with 0 cost or refund.

Sincerely,

OK4

I have the 8 core version, the fans are inaudible under normal loads and it stays cool to the touch. Under really heavy loads it can heat up fast, but the sound the fan makes isn't annoying to me. More like a gentle soothing white noise. ;)

On my Windows desktop at work, a relatively powerful machine, Chrome would start about 7 instances of its Software Reporter software and pin the CPU at 100%. I had to add two registry keys to disable Software Reporter. I love Chrome's developer tools as well, but Google.... I wonder if it was doing something similar on your Mac.

I had the same issue, and already ordered a new one and will send the defected one. I didn’t get a replacement with 0 cost (at least temporarily I have to stay without a laptop and pay the price twice since it is a CTO device)

I just bought the 16-inch and found the exact same problem. My 2015 version is just at the same room and runs exact same software and is very quite. I am very disappointed and plan to return it if there is actually no solution for the problem.

Just noticed:

Are you running any applications in OS-native full screen mode? I noticed that when I run my IDE (Jetbrains PHPStorm) in fullscreen - the GPU is taxed like crazy and the system heats up so the fans start spinning.

Running PHPStorm in non full-screen and the system is cool and the fans stop.

I did a complete OS reinstall and just watched some YouTube in Safari with the two monitors connected and installed iStats menu. It didn't take long until the fans were up to 3300 rpm and stayed there. Just watching YouTube in Safari. When doing the same thing in my Mac mini the fan went up around 2200 and then quickly went back down to around 1700. And the mini had lots of apps installed.

I installed Lightroom and just viewed some RAW photos taken with Olympus MFT camera the fans went up to over 4000 and stayed there until I quit Lightroom. Did the same thing on the mini, the fan stayed at around 2000 and went up in spikes when doing some editing, but quickly went back down.

This is incredible. The mini costs almost a third of the Macbook. I'll just upgrade my mini with an eGPU and more RAM, and it'll be an amazing machine.

My mini is the base i5 with 8GB RAM, the Macbook is the base i7 with 16GB RAM.

Quite strange the amount of noise the fan makes on the new 16inch MBP when connected to external displays. Really quite disappointing considering the amount spent on the machine. I hope apple can find a fix through a software update.

I connect an external display and at minimum load (normal Safari surfing) the fan speed rises 3000rpm-4000rpm. The sound of the fans is very audible and annoying. The lower part of the body under the Touch Bar, in the middle is very hot. Using a laptop without an external display does not solve the problem, the cooler also work at high speeds with minimal load.

MacBook Pro 16" Intel Core i7, 32Gb, 512Gb, AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 4Gb

Display DELL UltraSharp u2719dc 27" (2560×1440, 60Hz)

The lid is closed but actually it does not matter. Sometimes, the lid is open and I'm working on 1x 32" EV3285 at 3360x1890 (60Hz) and the fans are also spinning like crazy.

I just restarted and opened Safari again and right now, it's pretty silent. Maybe something is going crazy when you have not restarted the system for a long time? I will observe it.

I have the fan noise issue as well on my brand new MacBook Pro 16" with 2,3 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9 just using Safari.

I just ordered my replacement from Apple (at no costs), they were very quick to offer. I will report if the new one has the same issue, in around 2 weeks.

I’m using an Anker usb-c -> hdmi dongle that I used with my 2018 MBP. Never had the issues I explained above with my new 16”. And it isn’t even a 4K screen, so I question whether the dongle is the culprit.